KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rain started to fall at first pitch, and by the time the Kansas City Royals’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed Thursday afternoon, Kauffman Stadium resembled a snow globe.

Fat flakes stuck to the field, and players from both teams popped out of their dugouts to take in a spectacle more suited to January or February.

There hasn’t been measurable snow in May in Kansas City since 1907.

The Royals led 1-0 midway through the fourth inning when the game was called — six outs short of a counting game.

“I said, ‘Let’s throw down some dirt and let’s try to get it in,’ ” said Royals outfielder Jeff Francoeur.

Kansas City already has had three games postponed due to weather this season, and another against the Red Sox postponed during the search for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last month.

Notes

• Major League Baseball fined umpire TomHallion an undisclosed amount, and fined Rays pitchers DavidPrice, JeremyHellickson and MattMoore $1,000 each after they exchanged words last weekend. Price accused Hallion of directing an expletive at him. The umpire later called Price a “liar.”

• Reliever JobaChamberlain will go on the disabled list with a strained oblique, joining nine other Yankees on the DL.